The Kremlin said the leaders held a detailed discussion about the Russian initiative and Erdogan expressed full support, reiterating Turkey’s readiness to provide a venue and assist in organizing the negotiations.
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Romanian Army soldiers build a bomb shelter in the village of Plauru, Danube Delta, 300 kilometers east of Bucharest, Romania, on Sept.12, 2023. (Mihai Barbu/AFP via Getty Images)
Another drone likely fell and exploded on Romanian soil following an overnight Russian drone strike against Ukraine's Danube ports, the Romanian Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 12.
A crater left behind by the drone's explosion was found at around 5 a.m. on Oct. 12, roughly three kilometers west of the town of Plauru, which lies just across the Danube River from the Ukrainian port of Izmail, the ministry said.
Russian forces launched a wave of Shahed-type drones against Odesa Oblast overnight, targeting port infrastructure in Izmail. Governor Oleh Kiper reported that the attack injured one person and caused damage to the port and houses in the Izmail district.
The Romanian Defense Ministry said that appropriate steps were taken to secure the area of the impact, and the investigation of the incident is ongoing.
"The Defense Ministry strongly condemns the attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against civilian infrastructure facilities in the Ukrainian ports on the Danube River," the ministry said in its press release.
This is not the first time the Romanian authorities have found fragments of what are presumably Russian drones destroyed in strikes against Ukraine.
Russia has escalated its attacks against Ukrainian port infrastructure following its unilateral termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, targeting Ukraine's river ports Izmail and Reni near the Romanian border.
Bucharest reported the discovery of suspected Russian drones on Romanian soil in three separate incidents in September.
Romania has introduced new security measures to protect the civilian population near the Danube River. This included the construction of air raid shelters in high-risk areas and the strengthening of air defenses near the border.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
